In the section Rappers Are Delighted; DJ’s Get Dissed Katz tells the story of “Rappers Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. In this section he writes how the original composer of the music and the artist who originally wrote the lyrics heard the song. Both recognized their work but it was mixed with one another’s work and was being performed by someone they didn’t know. The Sugar Hill Gang had taken both of their works and made it their own. They made a lot of money on the song and nothing was given to the people that they took the stuff from. The section about Grand Master Flash takes a look into his journey as an artist. He started as just a DJ that would go into the studio with an artist and act like a coach. He then would go out and play
their songs at parties. He later became the first DJ to commercially produce a record. He took parts of songs and scratched them together to create a different sound. People would be surprised that the music was only one person at turntables when they saw him live. This record was important to the style of DJs and spread the sound into the mainstream. Katz tells the story behind Fab Five Freddy and his song “Change the Beat” and how originally no female voice had been on it. The song was supposed to be rapped initially by Freddy but his French accent was terrible. They Later decided to add a French singer to do the part making it the first multilingual rap song. The song has been widely sampled by other artists and is seen as a staple in the community. Katz writes about how “Rockit” inspired a whole generation of DJs in the early 80s. “Rockit” has a space like sound that was like no other song and amazed anybody that would listen to it. Another part of the songs success was its music video that was played extensively on MTV. The song went on to win a Grammy for the best R&B hip hop performance. The play time on MTV and the Grammy win gave the song massive exposure into the mainstream media. This song espoused a lot of people to the musical style of scratching .This song lead to more DJs expanding their horizons creating different sounds and styles.
In the story, “Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong”, the reader acknowledges the similarities between average soldier and Mary Anne. In the beginning of the chapter, Rat Kiely decides to tell a story to the team about how a soldier decided to bring his girlfriend to vietnam. When Mary Anne first arrives, Rat Kiely describes her with a bubbly personality and very outgoing. But soon Mary Anne knew the truth about the war and that she had to fight in order to keep her life. Rat Kiely mentions, “ ‘...I mean, when we first got here- all of us- we were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick. And so did Mary Anne’” (page 93). This quote shows the atrocious reality of war. It can be assumed that Mary Anne symbolizes
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is a documentary film, directed by Goran Hugo Olsson with footage compiled by multiple Swedish filmmakers and journalists. The film provides an alternate and compelling view of America during the Black Power Movement—from 1967-1975. All the footage is from 1967-1975 and features iconic black figures, such as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and other activists, artists, and leaders pivotal to the movement. Commentary is provided by black figures from the past and present. The film documents a plethora of issues associated with the Black Power Movement including the anti-Vietnam war efforts, the Black Panther Party, and the War or Drugs—and features the aforementioned black
Stereotypes are common in the United States because people have different beliefs and ideals how they view others. The article "Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas" by Jennifer Pozner demonstrates the negative racial and stereotypes use in the famous national TV show America's Next Top Model. She stated that a model was making a decision whether she was more tied to her ethnicity or her nationality. Given that this situation is becoming more important in America which makes the melting pot impossible to achieve. Tyra Banks, a former supermodel and the host of the show, yelled at a African America contestant is considered racialism to Pozner. For my consideration stereotypes are a way that build up and organize the society. Furthermore,
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) is a 1 hour and 40 minute documentary that observes the black power movement in American history. This film is directed by Swedish director Goran Hugo Olson and has detailed footage that was shot during the 1960s and 1970s by Swedish journalists. The footage largely focuses on the black power movements. The film allows viewers to not only grasp a better understanding of this movement but allows us to understand why this movement appealed to Swedish journalists. The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 includes vintage interviews with Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and other prominent leaders during the Black Power Movement. The documentary also contains contemporary audio interviews and commentaries from various entertainers, artists, activists, and scholars, including but not limited to: Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, Melvin Van Peebles, Erykah Badu, Abiodun Oyewele, and Questlove from The Roots.
Def Jam were notorious for making music that told a story. Whilst hip hop often became a way for artists to brag about what they had, Def Jam focused more on stories that listeners could relate to. Slick Rick’s ‘Children’s Story’ in 1989 set the benchmark for this style.
The human race is an incredible group that expresses their feelings in numerous ways! Singers and rappers express their feelings through song; poets express their feelings through their poetry, and artist express their feelings through their art. Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is a 33-year-old American hip hop recording artist from New Orleans, Louisiana, he produced a political and controversial rap song entitled “Georgia …Bush” An incredible seven and a half minutes of music as a tribute to New Orleans, and to criticize the way president George bush handled hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, and the way he was governing the country. The setting for this song takes place in New Orleans; right after Hurricane, Katrina destroyed most of the city. The music video featured a large pool of water, destroyed communities, as well as human remains. This song was a massive controversy. Did Lil Wayne go too far when he published this song? Did he let his feeling get the best of him?
The film that interested me for this assignment was “Boyz n the Hood”. The movie was about a Los Angeles neighborhood expanding of drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results. It was about how one teen had family support to guide him on the right path in life regarding the social problems around him. The other two teens in the film wasn’t as fortunate and fell into the social problems of drugs, violence, and gangs; where one ended up dead.
“You Was Right” by Lil Uzi Vert is fairly easy to understand lyrically. The essence of the song deals with unfaithfulness in a relationship as well as the aftermath. Lil Uzi Vert spends a large portion of the song admitting his mistakes to his presumed girlfriend in hopes of making things right between them. The song starts off with the hook, which rests upon the premise of how Lil Uzi Vert should have stayed loyal rather than taking another girl home with him. For example, he says, “You was right, I was wrong” (6) in an attempt to console his girlfriend and apologize. Following the hook, the first verse centers on Lil Uzi Vert’s riches due to his success as a rapper. He ties that in to his relationship by expressing how he wants to share his wealth with his girlfriend. At this stage in the song, Lil Uzi Vert is attempting to win his girlfriend back with his money and general success as a rapper. The hook then repeats itself to indicate that the argument between Lil Uzi Vert and his girlfriend is still continuing. The second verse signifies an escalation in their conflict, as he says, “You just locked the door, so I gotta text you” (42). His girlfriend is refusing to even listen
Upon reading your responses, I can see how individuals are labeled based on race and on stereotypes. In the film, “Boyz n the Hood”, I agree to what Sabrina said about the two scenes expressing discriminatory treatment by the criminal justice system. It was sad to see how when you are in need of help and the only source is turning their backs. It is not fair to be judged by your ethnicity, class, or where you live. This is related to labeling theorist, Howard Becker; whereas he states that certain individuals can even be labeled by being falsely accused. An individual can be labeled as a deviant, because of their race and yet never committed a crime (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer 2013, p. 189). We saw this in the one scene you pointed out, whereas Tre and his dad called the cops because of the break in at their home. Then
Social psychology is a branch of the spectrum of psychology that primarily focuses on social interactions, environmental influences and the social experiences that weigh heavily on individuals cognitive schemas. The film “Boyz ‘N The Hood” is comprised of many contemporary influential African American actors, heavily influenced by the environment they are in and the violence surrounding them in their community. There are various aspects of the movie that portray social psychological concepts, such as social perception, attitude change, aggression and violence, and group dynamics. Social psychological issues such as proactive aggression, reactive aggression, desensitization, differential association theory, and deviance
Hip-Hop’s criticism of George W. Bush is a good example of hip-hop’s reflection of Black public opinion. The Republican candidate who already had a low approval rating of 57% amongst African-Americans received an even lower approval rating after his lackluster efforts to support Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (Jones, 2003; Cillizza & Sullivan 2013).
George covers much familiar ground: how B-beats became hip hop; how technology changed popular music, which helped to create new technologies; how professional basketball was influenced by hip hop styles; how gangsta rap emerged out of the crack epidemic of the 1980s; how many elements of hip hop culture managed to celebrate, and/or condemn black-on-black violence; how that black-on-black violence was somewhat encouraged by white people scheming on black males to show their foolishness, which often created a huge mess; and finally, how hip hop used and continues to use its art to express black frustration and ambition to blacks while, at the same time, refering that frustration and ambition to millions of whites.
Negus, Keith. "The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 525-540. Print.
Light, Alan. "About a Salary or Reality? – Rap’s Recurrent Conflict." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 137-146. Print.
2. Mormon men who still practice polygamy today refer to Joseph Smith’s (founder of Mormonism) ideas and believe that if they have at least three wives, that they will become “Gods” in Heaven. And women who refuse to join polygamist families will be denied entree into Heaven. (Layton, 2004).